In an interview with Bloomberg news agency released yesterday, Russia's Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said his country plans to spend 19 trillion rubles ($613 billion) to purchase new weapons over the next decade as it seeks to modernize its Soviet-era Army.

The government is in the process of approving a plan to increase it arms budget for 2011-2020 by 46% from the previous estimate of 13 trillion rubles, Serdyukov added.
Serdyukov, who spoke following talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Washington earlier this month, also said that Russia was interested in acquiring U.S. technologies. He did not elaborate.
Since Russia's military equipment dates back to Soviet times, the government promised to allocate more money for modernization in recent years.